Letters to the editor, March 7

FILE - In this March 19, 2008 file photo, elephants from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus walk through the streets of Manhattan on their way to Madison Square Garden in New York. The circus will phase out the show's iconic elephants from its performances by 2018, telling The Associated Press exclusively on Thursday, March 5, 2015 that growing public concern about how the animals are treated led to the decision. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Photo: Seth Wenig / Associated Press

Regarding “New minimum wage hits 'little guys’ hard” (March 5): If paying restaurant workers a living wage is so terrible for small restaurants, how is it that such restaurants thrive in Europe, Japan and New Zealand, where workers, by law, must be paid a living wage, service fees are included, and there is no tipping? Yes, better wages for restaurant workers will cause a cultural shift. But it is one we should welcome.

Underpaying restaurant workers, creating a need for them to make up the difference in tips, is demeaning and wasteful. Tipping in restaurants is a custom that deserves to die. Why do we tip waiters and not, say, bank tellers, shoe salespeople or dental hygienists? It’s just custom. It can change. Yes, living wages for workers, and no tipping.

Jeff Johnson, San Francisco

Financial hit

The new Oakland minimum wage has sent shock waves through the restaurant where I have worked for over 20 years. Two longtime employees (a lunch cook and dishwasher) have been let go. The remaining daytime kitchen staff will just have to double up to accomplish the required tasks. The logistics are still being worked out, but the servers will certainly take a painful financial hit as well as the owners.

While I believe that large companies such as Target and Home Depot can weather a sudden large increase in payroll without extreme trauma, it has become apparent that it is the small businesses in Oakland that have been left to bear the brunt of a well-intended but hastily implemented wage increase. Yes, Mayor Libby Schaaf, by all means, let us disrupt poverty. I truly believe that is possible. However, it seems obvious that this should be done in an incremental manner so that it doesn’t harm some of the people it purports to help. Speaking of disrupting poverty — is the new mayor willing to donate 36 percent of her new salary to a needy individual or organization in the spirit of equability?

Lee Tsoflias, Oakland

Show the numbers

“New minimum wage hits 'little guys’ hard” (March 5) on the owner of the Borderlands bookstore was missing important details. How many employees does Alan Beatts have? How much did his payroll increase because of the new ordinance? An increase of $2.05 per hour per person (assuming he paid his employees minimum wage of $9 before) is about $4,000 per year per employee. What is his annual gross revenue?

If we were given accurate and complete numbers, it would be possible to judge whether the ordinance really makes it impossible for small businesses, or just that his is a marginal business to begin with. Or whether he is complaining to make a political point or because he doesn’t like any decrease in his profits.

Jeffrey Purvis, Fresno

Inhofe Ice Shelf

It’s time to honor the person who has done the most to further the debate on climate change. I think we should rename the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica the Sen. James Inhofe Ice Shelf. Its melting away would be an appropriate reminder of the great denier. Sir James Ross discovered it, and Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe helped make it disappear.

Richard Reynolds, San Francisco

Change model

Regarding “S.F. minimum wage increase pushes shops to the brink” (March 4): If your business model requires you to pay less than a living wage, you need to redo your business model.

Rik Elswit, San Francisco

Payback laws

Regarding “Alabama vs. history” (Editorial, March 6), Alabama will again be seen as being “on the wrong side of history” because its state Supreme Court decided to put a stop to the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Equally troubling, however, is a New York Times report indicating that many other states, including Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, are introducing bills that would allow business owners to use their religious beliefs as a justification for refusing to serve LGBT customers.

Would such legislation be allowed to stand if these customers were female, Asian or African American? Whatever anxiety that social conservatives have about the prospect of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitting nationwide same-sex marriage, they must not be allowed to enshrine discrimination within their state laws as a form of “payback.”

Julian Grant, Pacifica

Secure belongings

Regarding “Homeless camps to be swept into new housing program” (March 6), the plan to have a place for all the homeless to go to is a great idea. However, unless there are lockers on-site so people have some sense of security for their belongings, it won’t work.

An acquaintance of mine would sleep on his backpack to try to keep it safe from theft, and still had an attempt made to steal it. He never wanted to return to shelters, choosing to find a place he felt safe from theft while sleeping rough.

Susan Blomberg, San Francisco

Clowns are next

Regarding “Activists win: Elephants exiting the circus ring” (March 6,): This is jumbo-sized news that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are removing the elephants from performing in the circus. Now, if we can just get rid of those pesky clowns.